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Asking better questions

Asking better questions

2009-03-13

I was reading this story today about kids in Arkansas mistakenly drinking windshield wiper fluid:

10 kids drink windshield wiper fluid at daycare

The comments are filled with:

  • How could someone be so incompetent as to put windshield wiper fluid in the fridge?
  • How could someone not notice the difference between kool-aid and wiper fluid?
  • Why is such a dimwit working in a daycare center?
  • Why don’t we have laws to protect against stuff like this happening?
  • Why was windshield wiper fluid allowed within 5 miles of a daycare center?

But the question no one is asking is:

  • Why do we have to have toxic chemicals in our windshield wiper fluid?

I think we need to ask questions like this more often instead of being outraged at the result of something bad happening. I watch a great show on Discovery called Dirty Jobs, which explores the most disgusting jobs people have around the country. But the questions that are rarely asked are:

  • Why do we have this job in the first place?
  • Isn’t there a better, cleaner, safer way of doing this?

We need to step back, way back, and look at things in a wider context and ask better questions.

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I’ve been a bird breeder, a bicycle mechanic, bookseller, and a Software Engineer at Apple for 20 years.

Friends tell me I have interesting things to say.

You be the judge.

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